Classical definition of racism

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(This article focuses upon the classical, pre-modernist definition of racism. For the modern convention, please see racism)

Racism is the realization, recognition and knowledge that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race.[1] The colloquial meaning of racism is quite different from the natural and realist meaning of the term. (q.v. Racism.) The idea of superiority of some races is called racialism.

Along with environment, race is a major factor in the production of culture. The variety of cultures of the world are formed by the different and distinctiveness of the races of men in the world. This view is called Cultural determinism. Furthermore, these differing cultures have an impact on the political order of their particular countries. Many writers have observed and acknowledged that Culture defines politics.

The phrase "Classical definition of ..." is appended to the word in order to show what a traditional person would think and know. Since the concept is under attack, the phrase "classical definition" is to separate it from ideological modern definition and to counter the later-day deconstructionism of this term.

Contents

Classical Antiquity

The ancient Greeks noted differences between themselves and others around them. Aristotle records the common Greek view of their eastern neighbors:

"...for because the barbarians are more servile in their nature than the Greeks, and the Asiatics than the Europeans,..."[2]

The Greeks saw this "servility" as a racial characteristic. On the other hand, their self-government was the product of their manliness. Aristotle also notes that "It is manifest therefore that there are cases of people of whom some are freemen and the others slaves by nature, and for these slavery is an institution both expedient and just (δικαιον, righteousness)".[3] Later on, he remarks on other racial characteristics:

"The nations inhabiting the cold places and those of Europe are full of spirit but somewhat deficient in intelligence and skill, so that they continue comparatively free, but lacking in political organization and capacity to rule their neighbors. The peoples of Asia on the other hand are intelligent and skillful in temperament, but lack spirit, so that they are in continuous subjection and slavery."[4]

He goes on to say that the "Greek race participates in both characters...both spirited and intelligent." But says the same diversity exists among the different Greek races.[4]

Aristotle's and the Greek's conception of racial characteristics is based on the environment and the soul, not the color of skin.[5] The Greeks as a metaphysical thinking people saw the basis of difference in the spiritual side of mankind, i.e. the soul and not in the materialistic reasoning of the modern era.

Within the Greek races, the Ionian Greeks were very different from Doric Greeks.

On the other hand, the Romans were very different from the ancient Greeks. Where the Greeks were a race tied to metaphysical thinking, the Romans were a very down-to-earth people. The Romans were noted for their pragmatism and practicality. They were not innovators in science, philosophy or metaphysics but copied their forms from the Greeks. Their expertise lay in architecture, Law, and military.

Sayings

  • "Shto russkomu zdorovo, to nyemtsomu smert", ("What is healthy for a Russian is deadly for a German".)—Russian proverb[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (OED), 20 vol. set1
  2. ^ Aristotle, Politics, Book III, 9, §3; 1285a 20; Loeb, pg 249.
  3. ^ Aristotle, Politics, Book I ii 15; 1255a 1-5; Loeb, pg 23-24.
  4. ^ a b Aristotle, Politics, Book VII vi 1-2; 1327b20-35; Loeb, pg 565-567
  5. ^ "...the Greeks were what we may call environmentalists: they typically attributed differences of appearance and of custom to the influence of geography and climate". Dinesh D'Souza, The End of Racism, The Free Press, NY, 1995. pg 40
    In a modern materialistic age, the ancient Greek mentality is greatly overlooked. Aristotle writes that difference is of a spiritual (metaphysical) nature: "...slaves have bodies of freemen and freemen the souls only." Politics, Bk I ii 14; 1254b 34; Loeb pg 23. The difference resides in the soul one possesses.
  6. ^ Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism Revisited, Regnery Gateway, Wash. D.C., 1990. pg 471 #1008

Bibliography

  • Sarich, Vincent; Frank Miele, Race: The Reality of Human Differences, Westview Press, 2004. [1] ISBN-10: 0813340861.


External links

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